PLN Sees Swift Need for More Power Plants

Soaring electricity consumption in Indonesia has prompted state utility firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara to accelerate the construction of power plants across the country, a company executive said.

Benny Marbun, head of PLN’s commercial division, said on Tuesday that it had registered a new record-high electricity usage during peak hours — 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. — at 21,900 megawatts in the Java-Bali power grid, where power generation capacity is approximately 29,000 MW.

Benny said the gap between peak hours usage and the installed capacity at the Java-Bali power grid has narrowed this year. “The volume of new power plants is not growing as fast as that of consumption,” he added. “But the gap will widen again this year, as several power plants will begin operation.”

Electricity consumption grew 11 percent to 15.56 terrawatt hours in April from a year earlier.